This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you!

I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake; your sins I do not remember.

“Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, ¹  O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, ²  you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’

But the wicked are like a surging sea that is unable to be quiet; its waves toss up mud and sand.

who led them through the deep water? Like a horse running on flat land ¹  they did not stumble.

You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider ¹  and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me. ² 

Indeed every boot that marches and shakes the earth ¹  and every garment dragged through blood is used as fuel for the fire.

He will take delight in obeying the Lord. ¹  He will not judge by mere appearances, ²  or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. ³ 

Prepare to execute ¹  his sons for the sins their ancestors have committed. ²  They must not rise up and take possession of the earth, or fill the surface of the world with cities.” ³ 

“I will rise up against them,” says the Lord who commands armies. “I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, ¹  including the offspring she produces,” ²  says the Lord.

They will no longer trust in ¹  the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. ² 

The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹  “Certainly this sin will not be forgiven as long as you live,” ²  says the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies.

The dead do not come back to life, the spirits of the dead do not rise. ¹  That is because ²  you came in judgment ³  and destroyed them, you wiped out all memory of them.

In a year’s time ¹  you carefree ones will shake with fear, for the grape ²  harvest will fail, and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

You will no longer see a defiant ¹  people whose language you do not comprehend, ²  whose derisive speech you do not understand. ³ 

Night and day it will burn; ¹  its smoke will ascend continually. Generation after generation it will be a wasteland and no one will ever pass through it again.

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you since the very beginning? Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated; your adversaries ¹  will be reduced to nothing ²  and perish.

I solemnly make this oath ¹  – what I say is true and reliable: ²  ‘Surely every knee will bow to me, every tongue will solemnly affirm; ³ 

Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful clothes, O Jerusalem, ¹  holy city! For uncircumcised and unclean pagans will no longer invade you.